Heat-exchange apparatus



Aug.. 19 1 1924.'

w. H. RIPLEY HEAT EXCHANGE APPARATUS Filed April. S

Patented Aug. 19, 1924.

UNITEDl STArss:

,P TNT OFFICE; lff- `WILLIAM H. RIPLEY, ou HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT,AssIcfNcia.A To yTHE WHITLOCKCOII.

PIPnCoI/IPANY, or wi-3ST' HARTFORD, NECTICUT.

Appiiatifon fiied April 8,.

Apparatus, of which the following is a speciy I f'lcation. y y s Thisinvention relates generally, fto apparatus wherein an exchange of heatiselfected from one fluid to another by passing one iuid through vaplurality of `pipes and the other iuidabout the pipes. `The device maybe used as a cooler or a heater orboth, as desired, and has a'wideapplication in that iuids of any sort, and whether in the-liquid,gaseous or vaporous 'state can be heated or cooled. The device `findspeculiar application asfan oil'heater or cooler, but it maybeemployedfor other uses. f v f The aim of the invention is to provideanapparatus of this sort having various features of noveltyand advantage,and, more particularly, to provide an improved arrangement wherein thefluid within the shell is so baled and controlled in its flow ythat itis caused to take a maximum lengthof travel while, at the same time, theflow issodirected and broken 'up that stratification or the formingofstre'am lines of different temperatures is eliminated, thusinsuringthat all portions of the fluid willbe brought into intimatecontact withthe heating (orcooling) surfaces afforded by the tubes `andthereby obtaining theg'reatest efficiency .in operation. i l e n i f An'apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention is veryeffective in operation and is extremely simple and 40 compact inconstruction and per unit of heating surface is of minimum yweight withcorrespondingly low cost. Also, the arrangement is such that leakage `ofHuid through the openings in 'the baflles accommodatingrk the tubes orbetween the edgesof the battles and the shell is effectively' guardedagainst and the tendency for the fluid to follow a path adjacent thewall of the shell is counteracted, all of which results in increasedeiiciency. f

In the accompanying drawing, wherein `I f,

have shown, for illustrative purposes, two embodiments which theinventonmay take, Fig. l is a view taken longitudinallyand ytion cffstreamAklines or? eddies. tticularly,-,I provide anr arrangement ofbafjflesjwhich Ycausethe oil or Aother fluid within t-he= shellfto rflowin a generally circular or CONNECTICUT, A vcoRroimTIoN 'on CON-lIInAT-EXcI-IIINGE arieIaLITIIs).iy

192,2. Serial No. 550,564.

change apparatus;

f, Fig. 2is'a transverse sectional view taken on line 2-2 'of Fig. 1';

Sfshow's the bafliejplates in vthei'se-vk Y ,a Figa is @View simiiar toing@ s, but im? plates ofslightly different conuencein which they areassembled yin-Fig.`

notes a shelll orfcasing havinganiinletn and an outlet a at its oppositeends; B is a'servic'e header, andCrtubes arranged within the casingandconnected to thefheader as shown.l In the presentillustrativedisclosure, thel tubes are ofthe U-bend construction,

butthis is immaterial, as it lis evident that rto fa `floating head`orto a fixed tube sheet;

also, while the tube'sareshown as being arranged to form two passes inseries for the fluid flowing therethrough, the construction [the rearends of the tubes may be connected f may be of the single rvpasstype oryanyv depurposesfas being'supported ybya spider E.

Th'efpre'sent invention isdirected more particularly, to the means 'forcontrolling the rfiowfof oil or cthermediumtobe heated or cooled,as the'caselmay be, ythrough the shell a manner that the' oilis caused yto"take a maximum path oft'ravel during'whichv itrepea'tedly flows acrossthe tubes constituting ythe' heating or cooli'iigelementsin thin layersor casing, this` beingy brought about vin? such f or films withoutystratification jor the forma- More parspiral patli, the construction'being such that theopenings inthe baffles which accommo;

date" the tubes and the tendency for the roil i :or fluid to stratifybeingfeffectively counteracted. 1 i v' f tReferring particularly to thedrawing, it

will benotedthattheshell-A isk longitudiu `nally `divided, rinto apluralityr of, chambers which, by preference, are substantially flat andapproximately at right angles tothe lengthy vof the tubes. Y The baiiieshave a central hole 11 'for accommodating the core D and a plurality ofapertures orholes 12 for the reception of the tubes Quand it will beseen that the diameters of these holes mayk be practically the same asthe diameters ,ofy

the respective tubes which they receive,

which means that there is a very close fit be tween the outside walls ofthe tubes and the '5 edges of the holes which practically eliminates allleakage through' these holes, thus assuring absolute control of thedirectionof flow of the oil. These baffle plates may be very cheaplymanufactured, it being possible to stack one on top of the otherandvdrill a number of them at a single operation. 1 The baffles may beheld in suitable spaced relation in any desired manner as, for instance,by spot-welding them to spacer rods F, the

rear'ends of which are supported inthe spiderfE, as shown in Fig. 2.

' 'Ihe baffles, askwill be'seen most clearly from Figs. 3 ande, areprovided with cutaway portions whichform openings through which the oilor imedium within the shell flowsfrom one chamber to another, and theseopenings are so arranged that they cause, in conjunction with vanes 15,the oil ror other medium to take a generally spiral path. In` thepresent instance, ,these cutaway portions are angularly spaced apart insequence, so to speak, relative to the axis of thershell wit-hv theopenings of adjacent baffles angularlyk adjacent each other. In

' one manner of speaking, these cut-'away portions or openings arespirally arranged. In the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1,2 and 3, theopenings in thesuccessive baffles are indicated by the numerals 13, 13a,13b, etc. In this embodiment, the openingsvin alternate baies 'areprovided by cutting-away segments at the edges of thebaflies, vand theopenings 13a, 13c Vin the intervening baffles are adjacent the center ofthe baffles. These openings lare successively arranged 'at ap-yproximately 90"v relative to one another but, n

of course,'this showing is by way of illustration only, it being evidentthat the openings in Vadjacent baffles may be spaced other than at rightangles toone another.

Provided in each chamber, and extending half way across the same, is aradially positioned vane or baffle 15 the purpose of which isto preventythe fluid from flowing directly f from the opening in one baflie to theopening inthe next one. These vanes are positioned between they openingsof adjacent baffle plates and, therefore, these vanes are spij rallyarranged. 1

Inthe embodiment shown in Fig. 4, the edges ofthe baiiies arecut-awayvas at 13', 131, 13" in order to provide openings .through whichthe fluid passes from one out towards the edge of ,the'baffle `acrosseachchamber.

chamber to another. These openings are angularly arranged in a mannersomewhat similar to the openings orcut-away portions of the baffles ofthe preceding embodiment.

' In Figs.v 3 and 4, I have indicated by lines 20 and arrows the courseof travel which the oil or otherl medium passing through the shell iscaused to take by the bafiie's. It will be seen that this path of travelis generally circular or spiral. In the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 to3, the oil in some of the chambers, `for instance in the chamber betweenthe bailles 10 and 10a, flows vcircularly and at the same time towardsthe center of the chamber so as to escape through tendcncy'is for theoil to flow outwardly towards the periphery'ofthe shell, so as ltoescape through the opening 13". In other words, theV oil in eachchambertakes an inthe opening 13-,an'd inthe next chamber the volute path, inone chamber the oilflowing towards the center and in the next chamberThe advantage of this is vthat the tendencyv for theoil, owing tocentrifugal force, :to seek la path along the internalv wallof the shellis counteracted, and thus stratification of the' formation Iof streamlines is sulting in eiiicient operation.

In the. embodiment shown prevented, 'reinnig.' i, the

flow of oil in the several y*chambers is siinilar,.\as will be seenAfrom the lines indicatin the path of travel of the oil.

It is, of course, obvious lthat my inven tion is susceptible of'variousmodifications and changes which are'wi'thin the spiritof "1 chamber forinterrupting the circularflow i of the fluid therein and directing itinto-the next chamber. Y j

2. In an apparatus o'f'the character: de-

scribed, a shell, tubes arranged therein,

bafiies spaced longitudinally of said shell and dividing the sameinto-,a pluralityk of chambers, and a vane extending part way r 3.fIn anapparatusr of` the character described, a shell, a plurality of tubesarranged longitudinally therein, and means for causing the fluidwithinthe shell to flow in a' generally spiral path andincluding'aplurality'of .substantially flat bafflesv spaced spirally arranged, andvanes extending j,

partly across each chamber `and positioned between the openings ofadjacent battles.

5. In an apparatus of the characterv de scribed, a shell, tubes arrangedtherein, and

baiile plates spaced apart longitudinally`-'otl said shell whereby thelatter is divided into a plurality or' chambers, said battles havingangularly spaced apart openings at dillerent distances from the center'ot said shellr to cause the fluid passing through the shell to take aspiral path and cause thetluid in some of said chambers to iioiv towardsthev center of the shell.

6. In an apparatus of the character de-` scribed, a shell, a pluralityot tubes `arranged longitudinally therein, a plurality of substantiallyflat baiiies spaced longitudinally of the shell and extendingtransverselyot` said tubes, said battles having openings spirallyarranged with some o1E said openings positioned adjacent the center ofthe shell and others at the periphery of the shell.

7. In an apparatus of the character de-4 scribed, a shell, a pluralityof tubes extending longitudinally thereof, bathe platesy spacedlongitudinally of the shell and posi'- tioned at right angles to thetubes whereby said shell is divided into a plurality of chambers, saidbattles having spirally arranged With some of said openopeningsk ingsadjacent the center of lthe shell and others adjacent the periphery of-tlie shell, and vanes extending partlyv across each" chamberand'positioned between the openings of adjacent bailles.

8. In an" apparatus' of the character described, a shelltubes arrangedtlierein`batlie plates spaced longitudinally of said .shell andextending transversely of f said tubes,

'spacer rods in parallelism with said tubes and `passing through saidbattle plates, anda spider supporting the rear ends of said rods,- saidbaiileplates being spot-welded to said rods.

scribed, a shell, a plurality offlongitudinally 'extending tubestherein, battles spaced longi- `tudinally ofsaid shell and dividing thesaine into a plurality of chambers, 'each of vsaid baiiles having anopening, saidfopenings being angularly disposed with respect to eachother, and a vane extending part Way across each chamber, said vanesbeing angu 9. In'ranv apparatusoi" the character'de- 'y larly disposedwith each other in accordance y iviththe openings in said baliies. j p10. In an apparatus of the character decribed, a shell, a pluralityoi.clongitudinally extending tubes in said shell, transversely extendingbattle plates" longitudinally divid-` ing said yshell into a pluralityof chambers, said ba'liies havingspirally arranged openings, andspirally arrangedk longitudinally extending vanes between-said battleplates.

. A11. In an apparatus of the character dey YsCribed, a shell, aplurality of longitudinally extending tubes therein, and transverselyextending baftle plates longitudinally dividing said shell'into a seriesof chambers, said baide plates having spirally arranged openings.

said openings being alternately positioned adjacentr the center andadjacent the Wall of said shell.l n f n' ik l WILLIAM I-I. RIPLEY.

